Chinese Circuit
Posted: December 20, 2009
The First Gun (aka A Simple Noodle Story; San qiang pai an jing qi; 三枪拍案惊奇 )
Director: Yimou Zhang
Writer: Jianquan Shi, Jing Shang
Producers: William Kong, Weiping Zhang
Stars:
Honglei Sun
Shenyang Xiao
Ni Yan
Tri-genre: crime dramedy suspense
Story Situation: intrigue
Satisfaction Rating: good
Maturity Rating: 13+
Plotline: A jealous Chinese noodle shop owner (Shenyang Xiao) hires an assassin to kill his cheating young wife (Ni Yan) and her lover. The scheme goes quickly awry after someone brings a gun to a sword fight. Based on the Cohen brother’s 1985 debut film Blood Simple.
Comment: This co-production between Sony Picture Classics and Beijing New Picure Film Company with China’s premier director Yimou Zhang constitutes Zhang’s his first attempt at a commercial mainstream picture following a three-year hiatus during which he orchestrated the opening and closing ceremonies for the Beijing Olympic Games.
Jackie Chan Gets Dramatic
Jackie Chan as Stealhead in "Shinjuku Incident"
In Shinjuku Incident, an uncharacteristic non-comedic passion project from Jackie Chan, produced by his longtime management partners and distributed comfortably out of sight of international family audiences, Chan explores a more mature and darker dramatic range as a socially-conscious anti-hero who cheats, steals, kills mercilessly, and even sleeps with a prostitute.
Chinese star Ziyi Zhang channels Julia Roberts
Ziyi Zhang in "Sophie's Revenge"
Bingbing Fan
Often regarded as the Chinese Julia Roberts, international sex symbol Ziyi Zhang (Golden Globe nominee: Memoirs of a Geisha, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Rush Hour 2, Golden Horse nominee: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) boldly ventures into an actual Julia Roberts-style story with Sophie’s Revenge in a genre not so very well-established on the Chinese circuit. Also featured as her romantic rival is charismatic newcomer Bingbing Fan. Both women speak English.
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World's Favorite Films 2010
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World Favorite Foreign Language Films 2010
Yip Man 2 (Chinese)
My Name Is Khan (Bollywood)
Nodame Cantabile 2 (Japanese)
Blood Brothers: Secret Reunion (Korean)
L'arnacoeur (French)
Doraemon: Mermaid Adventure (Japanese)
Little Big Soldier (Chinese)
La rafle (French)
Io, loro e Lara (Italian)
Liar Game (Japanese)
Our Rossiya (Russian)
Younger Brother (Japanese)
Housefull (Bollywood)
Harmony (Korean)
Go Lala Go (Chinese)
Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 2 (Chinese)
Chico Xavier (Portuguese)
Kandahar (Russian)
